Google has been constantly upgrading its Android OS from time to time. Google WebView is one such component of Android OS that plays an important role since it allows app developers render web pages in different applications without the need to opening the browser in the form of a full window.
As an update to the feature, the tech giant has clarified that it would be incorporating Google WebView component by default into its Google Chrome browser in order to bring in more data and memory efficiency.
To make use of this new feature, users need to have Android Nougat on their Android smartphones as well as Chrome v51 or higher installed. On its developer web page, Google states that "Starting with Chrome version 51 on Android N and above, the Chrome APK on your device is used to provide and render Android System WebViews. This approach improves memory usage on the device itself and also reduces the bandwidth required to keep WebView up to date. You can choose your WebView provider by enabling Developer Options and selecting WebView implementation. You can use any compatible Chrome version (Dev, Beta, or Stable) that is installed on your device or the standalone Webview APK to act as the WebView implementation."
Another factor which users need to take into consideration is that Google will no longer be upgrading its standalone WebView APK as long as it decides on keeping Chrome WebView rendering open. To enable the feature, developers need to enable 'Multiprocess WebView' option on their device that will allow them to run web content easily on applications via different sandboxed process.
There is no constraint on the usage of this new feature since Google has kept it optional. Developers can easily opt-out of this feature by selecting WebView Implementation option found in Developer Options. The developers can then opt for standalone WebView APK replacing the new one if they feel the requirement of doing so.
Google WebView is one of those components that Google has been tweaking on and off over the years. To start with, the component originated from WebKit engine that got replaced by Google's Chromium engine when Android KitKat v4.4 came into existence. It resolved the reported vulnerability in WebView and also enabled quick binary updates that came as a part of OEM updates itself.
When Android Lollipop v5.0 got launched, it took the concept of WebView one step further since it unbundled WebView from the operating system installed which permitted users to download and update it separately without the need for any OEM fixation.
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